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Florida Governer Ron DeSantis at a press conference

Ron DeSantis Just Invited the Wrath of the Satanic Temple

Florida’s new school chaplain law invites a constitutional crisis as DeSantis bars some religions, defying First Amendment protections on religious liberty.
by Adam Laats via The New Republic on April 25, 2024
A Japanese interment camp used during World War II in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Forgotten Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawaii

A dark chapter in the history of religious persecution.
by Duncan Ryūken Williams via Literary Hub on February 25, 2019
The word "god" is visible, chiseled into the wall behind a statue of Thomas Jefferson.
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Why the Founders Fought for Separation of Church and State

Establishing freedom of religion was a hard-fought success of the American Founding. Today we are still fighting.
by John A. Ragosta via Made By History on July 10, 2025
Frederick Douglas.

What Frederick Douglass Learned from an Irish Antislavery Activist

Frederick Douglass was introduced to the idea of universal human rights after traveling to Ireland and meeting with Irish nationalist leaders.
by Christine Kinealy via The Conversation on June 14, 2024
John Trumbull's painting of Alexander Hamilton, 1806 (National Portrait Gallery).

Founding Philosemitism

Alexander Hamilton always believed that the providential protection that kept the small Jewish world alive would embrace his own extraordinary nation.
by Juliana Geran Pilon via Law & Liberty on October 3, 2023
Americans with signs and a banner Abdisellam Hassen Ahmed and his family to the US.
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Welcome Corps, the Newest Idea in Refugee Resettlement, Has Deep Roots

The new program might strengthen personal connections to refugees, but history shows there are potential downsides, as well.
by Emily Frazier, Laura E. Alexander via Made By History on March 15, 2023
"Submission of the Mohawk," illustration of Native Americans making offerings to Europeans.

America and the "Heathen": How We Set Ourselves Apart From "Sh**hole Countries"

The concept of "heathenism" may seem outmoded, but it defines race and religion in America.
by Kathryn Gin Lum, Kathryn Joyce via Salon on July 4, 2022
Whoopi Goldberg overlaid with black and white stripes on red background

Whoopi Goldberg’s American Idea of Race

The “racial” distinctions between master and slave may be more familiar to Americans, but they were and are no more real than those between Gentile and Jew.
by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on February 3, 2022
Walmart Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith As Lieutenant General Of The Nauvoo Legion

The Fallacy of Religious Freedom

When the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith ran for president, he wasn’t seeking further glory but a policy change in religious liberty.
by Tamarra Kemsley via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 11, 2021
A WPA poster styled man in a field with a Mac laptop and earbud instead of farm implements.

The New National American Elite

America is now ruled by a single elite class rather than by local patrician smart sets competing with each other for money and power.
by Michael Lind via Tablet on January 20, 2021
The book cover for "They Knew They Were Pilgrims."

A History of the Pilgrims That Neither Idolizes Nor Demonizes Them

Historian John Turner tells the story of Plymouth Colony with nuance and care.
by Grant Wacker via The Christian Century on January 14, 2021
Drawing of pilgrims walking in a line in the snow.

Why the Puritans Cracked Down on Celebrating Christmas

It was less about their asceticism and more about rejecting the world they had fled.
by Peter C. Mancall via The Conversation on December 17, 2020
The Oquirrh Mountain Temple in Salt Lake City

The Most American Religion

Perpetual outsiders, Mormons spent 200 years assimilating to a certain national ideal—only to find their country in an identity crisis.
by McKay Coppins via The Atlantic on December 16, 2020
Statue of Thomas Jefferson and an American flag.
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Jefferson's Other Legacy: Religious Liberty

Religious bigotry is only less pressing today than racial bigotry because of progress Jefferson helped bring about.
by Cameron Addis via HNN on January 10, 2020

Washington’s Legacy for American Jews: ‘To Bigotry No Sanction’

In 1790, as the First Amendment was being ratified, George Washington made a promise to American Jews.
by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on September 23, 2019
Young Japanese American girl Yoshiko Hide Kishi. Tom Hide Collection, Washington State University Libraries' MASC.

The Complex Role Faith Played for Incarcerated Japanese-Americans During World War II

Smithsonian curator of religion Peter Manseau weighs in on a history that must be told.
by Peter Manseau via Smithsonian on February 15, 2019

The Original Constitution of the United States: Religion, Race, and Gender

The Constitution of 2018 is not the Constitution written by the Framers in 1787, and no one should wish otherwise.
by Richard D. Brown via Medium on September 20, 2018

Why Putin is an Ally for American Evangelicals

American evangelicals once saw the Soviet Union and other communist countries as the world’s greatest threat to their faith.
by Melani McAlister via The Conversation on September 4, 2018
The April 1966 cover of “Ramparts," featuring a caricature of Madame Nhu dressed as a Michigan State University cheerleader

The University That Launched a CIA Front Operation in Vietnam

A Vietnamese politician and an American academic led Michigan State University into a nation-building experiment and pulled America deeper into war.
by Eric Scigliano via Politico Magazine on March 25, 2018
An open book.
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Periodicals Are Reassessing Their Pasts. It’s Time for Publishers to Do the Same

For decades, book publishers regularly rejected authors on the basis of their race and religion. Their voices deserve to be heard.
by Yuliya Komska via Made By History on March 22, 2018
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What the Prisoners’ Rights Movement Owes to the Black Muslims of the 1960s

Black Muslims have been an influential force in the prisoners' rights movement and criminal justice reform.
by Christopher E. Smith, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on January 22, 2018
Drawing of a prisoner with his head in his hands, viewed from behind a fence

Guantánamo Bay is Still Open. Still. STILL!

41 men are still being held without charges, without a way to leave, without homes to return to.
by Sarah Mirk, Jess Parker via The Nib on January 17, 2018
Protestor outside the Supreme Court, with a Bible and a sign denouncing bigotry.
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Discriminating in the Name of Religion? Segregationists and Slaveholders Did It, Too.

If religious freedom trumps equality under the law, it provides a “cover” that actually encourages discrimination.
by Tisa Wenger via Made By History on December 5, 2017

How to Balance Competing Claims of Religious Freedom?

Peyote use has been defended with religious liberty arguments. So has Bible reading in public schools.
by Tisa Wenger via The Christian Century on October 16, 2017

The True Story of the Fight for Religious Equality in the US

The U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, but the fight for religious equality was only just beginning.
by Richard D. Brown via Aeon on June 28, 2017

A Brief History of America’s ‘Love-Hate Relationship’ With Immigration

Donald Trump’s restrictive plan is reminiscent of legislation from 100 years ago.
by Alan M. Kraut, Priscilla Alvarez via The Atlantic on February 19, 2017
Syrian float in the Chicago Liberty Day parade, 1918.

What We Can Learn from America’s Other Muslim Ban (Back in 1918)

Stacy Fahrenthold compares Donald Trump's Muslim ban to that of Woodrow Wilson back in 1918.
by Stacy Fahrenthold via Tropics of Meta on February 8, 2017
Pilgrims going to church armed with guns.

God and Guns

Patrick Blanchfield tracks the long-standing entanglement of guns and religion in the United States. Part 1 of 2.
by Patrick Blanchfield via The Revealer on September 25, 2015
Four young women, the daughters of Sidonia Kahn, in fancy dresses and hats.

Southern Jews Have Always Debated Zionism

Conflicts over Israel’s founding encompassed religion, race, and politics.
by Shari Rabin via Zócalo Public Square on August 4, 2025
"The American River Ganges," a 1871 political cartoon by Thomas Nast from Harper's Weekly, depicting Catholic priests as foreign crocodiles preying on US children, illustrating the fear behind the proposed Blaine Amendment.

After the Blaine Era

The landscape for educational freedom is finally freed of 19th century prejudices, but other federal constitutional questions remain.
by Bruno V. Manno via Law & Liberty on December 4, 2023
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